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Case Study
Case study research is a versatile approach to research in social and behavioral sciences. Case studies consist of detailed inquiry into a bounded entity or unit (or entities) in which the researcher either examines a relevant issue or reveals phenomena through the process of examining the entity within its social and cultural context. Case study has gained in popularity in recent years. However, it is difficult to define because researchers view it alternatively as a research design, an approach, a method, or even an outcome. This entry examines case study through different lenses to uncover the versatility in this type of research approach.
Overview
Case study researchers have conducted studies in traditional disciplines such as anthropology, economics, history, political science, psychology, and sociology. Case studies have also emerged in areas such as medicine, law, nursing, business, administration, public policy, social work, and education. Case studies may be used as part of a larger study or as a stand-alone design. Case study research may be considered a method for inquiry or an evaluation of a bounded entity, program, or system. Case studies may consist of more than one entity (unit, thing) or of several cases within one entity, but care must be taken to limit the number of cases in order to allow for in-depth analysis and description of each case.
Researchers who have written about case study research have addressed it in different ways, depending on their perspectives and points of view. Some researchers regard case study as a research process used to investigate a phenomenon in its real-world setting. Some have considered case study to be a design—a particular logic for setting up the study. Others think of case study as a qualitative approach to research that includes particular qualitative methods. Others have depicted it in terms of the final product, a written holistic examination, interpretation, and analysis of one or more entities or social units. Case study also has been defined in terms of the unit of study itself, or the entity being studied. Still other researchers consider that case study research encompasses all these notions taken together in relation to the research questions.
Case Study as a Bounded System
Although scholars in various fields and disciplines have given case study research many forms, what these various definitions and perspectives have in common is the notion from Louis Smith that case study is inquiry about a bounded system. Case studies may be conducted about such entities as a single person or several persons, a single classroom or classrooms, a school, a program within a school, a business, an administrator, or a specific policy, and so on. The case study also may be about a complex, integrated system, as long as researchers are able to put boundaries or limits around the system being researched.
The notion of boundedness may be understood in more than one way. An entity is naturally bounded if the participants have come together by their own means for their own purposes having nothing to do with the research. An example would be a group of students in a particular classroom, a social club that meets on a regular basis, or the staff members in a department of a local business. The entity is naturally bounded because it consists of participants who are together for their own common purposes. A researcher is able to study the entity in its entirety for a time frame consistent with the research questions.
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- Descriptive Statistics
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- Types of Variables
- Validity of Scores
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